More than a third of newly qualified doctors leave medical school without any specialist training in sexual misconduct, a damning report revealed today.
Only 22 universities nationwide offer workshops and conferences that cover the topic, according to statistics from the 34 institutions.
The figure, revealed by Freedom of Information requests from researchers at the University of Cambridge, also found that just over half only offered “some” training.
Experts today called the findings “concerning” and called on universities to “urgently address this issue.”
It comes just hours after a shocking study found that female NHS surgeons have continued to suffer a spate of sexual assaults by colleagues in the workplace.
Only 22 universities in the entire country offer training focused on medicine, according to statistics from the 34 institutions. The figure, uncovered by Freedom of Information requests from researchers at the University of Cambridge, also found that just over half only offered “some” sexual harassment training.
According to the survey, almost one in three female surgeons working in the health service have been sexually assaulted in the last five years.
Surgeons who participated in the study, one of the largest of its kind ever conducted, reported eleven cases of rape.
It was published this morning in the British Journal of Surgery.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge revealed today that the 34 universities identified 35 training opportunities in total in their responses, 29 of them mandatory and six optional for students.
Only a few of them were spread over several academic years.
Writing in the diary, JRSM OpenThey said: “The responses do not identify any standardization of sexual misconduct training across UK medical universities.”
They added: “Nearly half of the schools (47 percent) offered no training, or only offered general harassment training that was not specific to sexual misconduct or was completely outside the context of being a doctor.”
Those who offered the training referred to professionalism training based on the General Medical Council (GMC) guidelines.
The GMC, like many similar professional bodies around the world, offers guidance to professionals, along with rules, and recommends education and training.
In August, the regulator issued new professional standards for doctors that, for the first time, included explicit rules on sexual misconduct.
But the new guidelines will not come into force until the end of January, after a five-month familiarization period for staff.
“We note that the GMC content provides standards of behavior, but does not include comprehensive, skills-focused content that provides individuals with intervention techniques or options to address behaviors in the clinical setting,” the researchers wrote.
It comes as a Freedom of Information request earlier this year to the NHS Resolution which revealed the health service paid out more than £4 million in damages for sexual misconduct between 2018 and 2022.
A recent survey of 2,500 doctors by the British Medical Association (BMA) also found that a third of women and a quarter of men surveyed had experienced unwanted physical behavior in the workplace.
Dr Sarah Steele, senior research associate in public health at the University of Cambridge and lead researcher on the study, said: “Our study shows that graduates working as junior doctors cannot be assumed to have received training on sexual misconduct before. to begin his duties”.
“Considering the magnitude of this problem, universities and professional bodies should urgently address it.”
In medical schools where mandatory sexual misconduct training was provided, a wide range of delivery methods were adopted, with the main focus being the delivery of workshops and lectures.
A shocking study published this morning also found that female NHS surgeons have continued to suffer a spate of sexual assaults by colleagues in the workplace. According to the survey, almost one in three female surgeons working in the health service have been sexually assaulted in the last five years. Surgeons who participated in the study, one of the largest of its kind ever conducted, reported eleven cases of rape. It was published this morning in the British Journal of Surgery. Pictured is the percentage of respondents who witnessed or were subjected to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and gender-based rape in the past five years.
But Dr Steele said: “With such significant variations in teaching context and format, it is important to investigate which methods and content are most effective in improving these future doctors’ responses to this form of abuse and discrimination.”
‘The latest GMC professional standards make it imperative that medical schools offer this training.
“The doctors of tomorrow will need adequate training if we are to apply the zero tolerance approach.”
He added: “The idea that public universities offering medical education in line with GMC requirements are in competition, such that they do not share curricula or engage in knowledge exchange, is worrying to say the least.”
However, the academics behind the new study cautioned that there were potential limitations.
Any response received from the 34 universities that was unclear or did not adequately address the question was followed by an email to clarify how it should be interpreted.
Still, they acknowledged that the coding process “may have introduced bias.”
While all answers are public information and available for other research teams or the public to access, there may also be a possibility that answers provided by universities are incomplete or inaccurate, they added.
Likewise, “it is important to note that many foreign-born and foreign-trained doctors work in the NHS and therefore future studies should also explore training around the world,” they said.
